Turīya·Sūtrathe thread to the fourth

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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Virāṭa

The Northern Cattle Raid: Uttara Takes Bṛhannaḍā as Charioteer

Classical

With Virāṭa away fighting Suśarmā, Duryodhana, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa, Kṛpa, Aśvatthāman, Śakuni, Duḥśāsana and others attacked the north. They drove off sixty thousand cattle, killing herdsmen on the way. The herd's chief rushed to the capital and found the prince, Bhūmiñjaya, also called Uttara, and told him what had happened. He urged him to act: the king had left him in charge, and the king often praised him as an archer. He asked for the prince's silver horses to be yoked and for his golden lion standard to be raised.

Uttara boasted in the women's quarters. He could drive out alone, he said, and recover the cattle, if only he had a good charioteer; his own had been killed in the fighting. He would terrify Duryodhana, Bhīṣma, Karṇa, Kṛpa and Droṇa, and the Kurus would ask whether Arjuna himself had come. Arjuna, hearing in disguise, quietly asked Draupadī to tell Uttara that Bṛhannaḍā had once been Arjuna's charioteer. She stepped forward, a little embarrassed, and said so, recalling the Khāṇḍava fire. Uttara hesitated to ask someone like Bṛhannaḍā, but Draupadī said Bṛhannaḍā would do it for his sister.

Uttarā came to the dance hall and begged Bṛhannaḍā. Arjuna pretended not to know how to fight, to amuse himself. He put on armour clumsily, and the girls laughed, so Uttara dressed him in mail. The girls asked him to bring back fine cloths for their dolls, and he replied in a deep voice that if Uttara conquered the Kurus he would. Old women, maidens and Brahmins walked around the chariot, blessing them, as it left the city. Near the cemetery they saw the Kuru host, vast as a sea with a cloud of dust, with Karṇa, Duryodhana, Kṛpa, Bhīṣma, Droṇa and Aśvatthāman. Uttara trembled and his hair stood on end. He said he would not fight, that his father had taken the army south, that the city was empty. Bṛhannaḍā rebuked him: the women who had praised his charioteering would mock him. Uttara leapt from the chariot, threw down his bow and ran.

Arjuna, with braid and red garments flying, ran after him, to the amusement of some soldiers. The Kuru leaders debated who the figure might be, and some guessed it was Arjuna from his build and walk. A hundred steps away Arjuna caught the prince by the hair. Uttara offered a hundred gold coins, eight jewels, a golden chariot and ten elephants if he were let go. Arjuna laughed, dragged him back, and told him to drive while Arjuna fought. At the tree Arjuna had him bring down the weapons hidden in it, and then revealed who he was: the ten names Arjuna, Phalguna, Jiṣṇu, Kirīṭin, Śvetavāhana, Bībhatsu, Vijaya, Kṛṣṇa, Savyasācin, Dhanañjaya. Uttara's fear vanished. Arjuna took down the lion banner, raised his ape banner, and blew his conch, which made the horses kneel.

Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya

Who: Uttara (Bhūmiñjaya), Arjuna (Bṛhannaḍā), Draupadī, Uttarā, Virāṭa

Bound to

Suśarmā of Trigarta Raids Virāṭa's Cattle origin

Arjuna Routs the Kaurava Host Alone origin

The Shami tree: weapons hidden as a corpse origin

Arjuna's Urvashi curse becomes his Virata disguise mirror

Places: Virāṭanagara, Cemetery, Śamī tree

Where this comes from

See it on the tree · All stories

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